Industries Takeover: main trends and perspectives

By Roberto Kanaane and Solange Kanaane*

Takeovers and acquisitions represent strategies that enable companies to be competitive in order to gain wider domestic and global market.

During an acquisition, one company purchases another. The purchased company ceases to exist, or it becomes a part of the buying company. The buying company owns all assets, including the name of the company, their equipment, their personnel and even their patents and other intellectual property.

Acquisition means territorial expansion that must be applied when issued stock can be bought and sold on public stock markets. However, there are several other immediate reasons such as diversification and law considerations. During the takeover it is usual to have a whole financial and strategic analysis of the companies involved, not taking into consideration at first their cultural audit.

Cultural audits examine current practices, programs and processes to identify how culturally appropriate they may be for multi-cultural or global audiences. They enable the global organization to align business processes with desired outcomes.

For the pharmacutical industries the takeovers and acquisitions represent a meaningful strategy for the business “health” as half of their revenue come from new products, which implies great investments and risky actions. Consequently, the synergy created during the takeover process widen the possibilities of success for such strategy.

It is significantly important that the Personnel become involved in the acquisition process once the implementation of the organizational strategies are only likely to happen successfully if the boards or owners of both companies have agreed to the transaction.

We suggest that special attention is given to business communication once such process impacts on the organization structures. Barriers can be overcome due to endomarketing strategies that enable transparency when changes during the takeover and acquisition process occur.

We also recommend training programs together with development of teams activities aiming at involving them in the cultural change process that will lead to commitment and compromise.
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However, partners must also discuss the results of the cultural analysis and their consequences so that the takeover becomes totally successful.

(*) Roberto Kanaane is a Doctor in Science and skilled in Process Management and Strategic Planning. Solange Kanaane is a Master in Business Administration and experienced in the organizational development and change. Both are partners at Roka Consultoria.